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I’ve long been a sucker for build-a-figure toys. Collect multiple figures, get pieces for a big/other figure, voila! Bonus figure in addition to the individual figures.

Even longer than that, though, I’ve been a sucker for the likes of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers and their Megazord…the combining of the Pterodactyl, Triceratops, Mastadon, Saber-Toothed Tiger, and Tyrannosaurus into the larger humanoid robotic machine (with a power sword!).

Alas, the Power Rangers license is screwy (to me) and their Legacy line is ridiculously expensive, especially for buying all in one go, and for the actual size…to say nothing of my ever-so-favorite subject in comics, movies, and toys…VARIANTS. (I am NOT interested in Black-and-White variants of the zords…I want the fully-colorized ones that look like the show.

So when I started noticing Voltron toys popping up, they caught my attention. I knew enough to know that they’ve got five lions and Voltron. The combining of the Green Lion, Yellow Lion, Red Lion, Blue Lion, and Black Lion into the…larger…humanoid..robotic machine (with a power sword!).

So I started snagging these. Way too expensive to justify getting all at once, but over a period of time, didn’t "feel" the cost as much. And then some more time before getting them out of their packaging. I got them out of the packaging all in one sitting…barely. Compared to when I was a kid, modern toys’ packaging is ridiculous! All sorts of zip-ties and twist ties and bindings and lock-in plastic and tape and fasteners…I wound up with scissors, a pocket knife, and wire cutters to get these things apart from their packaging and into the open!

As individuals, the lions are pretty cool. I like the different sizes, and the looks in general, and definitely dig the sound effects from the Black Lion.

For detailed reviews of the individual Lions, please check out the following, over at Figure Fan Zero!

(and check out his blog in general…loads of great posts about all sorts of toys and such…very much a great read for the "adult collector" (as opposed to "for kids"). Those posts do a far superior job to anything I could do on these guys…and helped ensure my purchases on these after having thought idly about ’em before that!

I had a heckuva time getting thet lions configured to join together, and eventually had to resort to YouTube videos to kinda figure it out…I’m not 100% that I’ve got them assembled correctly, but they look good enough to me!

This massive Legendary Voltron stands supposedly about 16" tall…certainly taller than any proper shelves that I could put it on, so it’s with a talking Galactus that I have on top of a rack of comic boxes, and practically touches the ceiling up there!

Here, he’s standing on a longbox that’s on the floor, and reaches a table above.

I was quite amused at the sound effects generated as I cycled through the Back Lion’s "phrases," and my amusement increased to being highly impressed when I connected the Blue Lion and it acknowledged that the Blue Lion had just been connected, and told me the others were needed. As each connected, it was (correctly!) acknowledged!

Also an appropriate comparison, as both come from the same toy company!

Part of me can’t believe I bought all these…but past that, I’m quite impressed with this, and while I’m keeping Voltron assembled in this configuration, it’s awesome to know that I could disassemble it back into the five Lions, that are all individualized and poseable themselves, not just pieces of some "real" figure, but real actual figures themselves!

And there’s those little "speeders" that came with the lions, each itself supposedly a large vehicle, in scale to the humans…showing the sheer scale of these Lions. There’s a storage compartment in each Lion for the speeders, so though they’re not seen in the assembled Voltron…they’re tucked inside each Lion!

I also recently (finally!!) managed to find the newest Usagi Yojimbo action figure, part of the Tales of the TMNT re-branding of Nickelodeon‘s series that’s been running since 2012!

Above–"classic" Usagi from the ’80s line; Usagi from the 2003 line; and "current" or "modern" Usagi fresh off a peg.

It’s a sort of relief to finally have found the figure, after weeks of too-frequent stops in Targets and Walmarts and venturing to further-away locations, and same for Toys R Us and such, hoping to find the figure.

Now I can sit back and not "worry" about finding it or "missing out" if the figures suddenly disappear from stores with the animated series ending.

Posing the figures for the photo with a fairly intentional background also reminds me that there are three more volumes of The Usagi Yojimbo Saga I want; though I’ve yet to make the time to actually sit down and read any of them yet.

I’ve accumulated quite a few Mighty Mini figures the last couple years or so, however long the things have been coming out.

But until a recent clearance sale at Target, I had only stuck to the Mighty Mini figures themselves.

Along with recent acquisitions of various 12-inch figures…I found these Mechs for Green Arrow and Batman…sized for the miniature figures.

In a certain way, I have to wonder if there’s much more awesome than this. Batman? Giant Mech robot battle suits? As one?

To top ’em off…I found clearanced minis and got a second Green Arrow and second Batman, so my originals can stay with my display of the minis, but also have a copy to go with the mechs, where-ever/how-ever I wind up displaying them!

Tomorrow: The Death of the Super-Blog Team Up!

Forgive this being yet another token/simplistic showing-off-the-shelves post. Tomorrow’s post should more than make up for the last few token posts, as well as hit another point that I’ve been toying with awhile.

I’d seen the Pop vinyl figure of Casey Jones, based on the classic animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character back in January…but didn’t think much of it at the time. Or moreso, I had other stuff I was buying and didn’t justify the cost…plus, I’d decided I was not keeping up with the figures, so while sorta cool, I wasn’t that interested in the figure.

I regretted that decision pretty shortly after…but never enough to chance "online pricing" and such.

So over the weekend, while visiting a friend out of state, I decided that if we went to the store where they’d had the figure, and any were still in stock…this time I would buy it!

Needless to say given the photo above…the figure was indeed in stock, and I did buy it.

And cool as this one is…I’m now pretty eager to track down the rest of the TMNTPop figures, though I do not care for the likelihood of high and/or secondary pricing on them.

That said…I’m not even going to try hunting any down for at least a couple weeks, because I have recently blown way, way outta my "budget" and need to stick much more to real-life "essentials."

I’ll probably show off more of the budget-busters later this week, as well as my joining the Super-Blog Team-Up for the first time!

As with the others…it’s price point, and the entire "wave" being present to buy in one go, not having to visit multiple stores and put much effort into tracking them all down.

I’m a sucker for this sorta thing.

And of course, a lot of it’s the packaging. I don’t know the cars. They look cool enough, but I’m just not a car guy.

But the impulse-buyer/collector in me loves this sorta thing.

And someday, these’ll make for some cool display, icebreaker, or junk to add to someone else’s collection. Who knows?

I can say that this wave’s a little disappointing, having only the two cars for the movie look, and the other three being villains and this Spider-Man logo…rather than, say, the couple movie cars and then six more for the Sinister Six or such. And no display of the numerous Spider-Man logos from the 50+ years of the character…

I (somehow) managed to forget that I’d ordered this last week, when I opted to buy the Adam West Batman Bust Bank over the weekend. Perhaps I was torn on it and figured I could still cancel the order (I didn’t). Whatever the case…it arrived Monday.

There was also a factor of the price–getting this much cheaper ordering online than had I bought it in a store in-person.

The box is snazzy and not bad as a window-box or whatnot…but you just don’t get the greatest sense of the Batmobile and the figures with everything roped into place inside a brightly-colored box!

Some of the car gets lost in the angles of the box…out of the box, easy enough to just see the car for itself, and the sheer awesomeness that is this car!

Sadly, there’s no flame effect for the back. Atomic batteries to power…turbines to speed indeed.

And while the car is cool enough on its own…it’s even better with its classic occupants!

At either angle, they look good in this!

My only real complaint with the set is that the capes aren’t particularly removable…nor are they cloth, and so it’s hard to get the figures to actually SIT in the vehicle. I had to put Batman’s cape over the back of his seat for the figure to actually sit down in and not be standing up outta the seat.

I am not a "car guy" or such. But if you wanna talk cool-looking cars, or a "dream car" and all that…the 1966 Batmobile is that for me.

As with the Bust Bank over the weekend…I hold that it’s a shame it took West‘s passing to remind me how much he and his portrayal of Batman meant to me–really meant–and while I feel sorta guilty "suddenly" getting stuff like this…I do feel like it’s before the items disappear or otherwise go full-on collectors’-items because of the man’s death. I wouldn’t want to have to "hunt" for these or pay jacked-up "premium prices" because someone raises the price on "Adam West memorabilia" or such.

I’ll leave off with a clip I found while looking for something else, but that I found quite interesting: